Real estate has always been pricey in New York, but living six feet under just got more expensive. Across Brooklyn, funeral homes are losing money because many families cannot afford what they might have once paid to bury their relatives. While the economic downturn does not affect the death rate, many families are choosing to cremate instead of bury, saving between $2,000 and $4,000. And that's not their only concession.

For two years, man thought ashes were wife's. A former Huntsville resident is suing Laughlin Service Funeral Home alleging he was given the remains of a stranger after his deceased wife was cremated in 2006. The lawsuit was filed electronically in Madison County Circuit Court on Saturday on behalf of Richard Henry Parrott. Parrott seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

LONDON (AP) — Richard Van Allan, a British bass-baritone who was a commanding presence on the world's opera stages, has died at age 73. Van Allan died Dec. 4 in London, according to the National Opera Studio, which he directed from 1986 to 2001. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago, The Guardian newspaper reported. His roles included Pooh-Bah in Jonathan Miller's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" at English National Opera.

ROSYLN, Wash. -- If you want an old-fashioned burial, Wesley Craven promises to be the last one to let you down. In fact, that's exactly what his business card - one that shows the broad-shouldered 71-year-old Craven wielding a pick ax - says. Craven is a gravedigger at the Cle Elum and Roslyn cemeteries, where those who want traditional burial go to their final resting place in graves that are still hand-dug.

WYANDOTTE -- Pushing daisies is getting greener. As more Americans look for ways to reduce their impact on the environment during their lives, many also are looking at ways to do the same in death. They're turning to options that allow them to pass on without the toxic trail left by cremation or the earth-altering effects of a tradition burial. And while they're saving the environment, they're also saving money.

MOSCOW -- Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II, who died of cardiac insufficiency last Friday at the age of 79, has been buried in Moscow’s Epiphany Cathedral. Earlier in the day, a major requiem service was held in the Cathedral of the Savior, located in downtown Moscow in a stone’s throw from the Kremlin. Requiem liturgies and prayers were chanted there for 60 hours since Saturday afternoon when the coffin with the Patriarch’s body was delivered there from his residence in a southwest suburb of Moscow.